How Can Destinations ResumeTourism After the Pandemic,While Ensuring Sustainability?

Inspiration and practical advice for destination developers, managers andmarketers, curated by The Place Brand Observer, in partnership withthe Sustainability Leaders Project.

August 2020

Foreword

Key Takeaways

I Sense of Place

II Audiences Review

III Product and Distribution Strategy

IV Infrastructure and to-dos after the Pandemic

V Regulations and Financial Support

VI Communication Strategy

VII Open Dialogue with Local Community

VIII Be a Visionary

IX New Measurements of Effectiveness

X Avoid Common Pitfalls

Further Reading

TPBO Premium

Contributing Specialists

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Table of Contents

Dear reader

After several months oflockdown, uncertainties, political pressure, economic and social losses — but also inspiring stories of nature renaissance,solidarity and awareness, we have(hopefully) learnt a valuable lesson or two,as human beings.

The travel industry is among the mostaffected by the pandemic. At the sametime the visitor economy is an essentialingredient for the economic recovery ofmany destinations. That means muchpressure on destination managers andmarketers to resume tourist flows as soonas possible, and to get back to business.

Alas, back to business as it was beforeCovid-19 is easier said than done, andoften not advisable, considering that theexpectations and needs of customers andcommunities may have changed, togetherwith influencing external market conditionsand bigger picture concerns, especiallytourism sustainability and the climateemergency.

"Never waste a good crisis" — andindeed, destination managers anddevelopers are given an unprecedentedopportunity right now to rethink tourismand to come up with ways to make it moresustainable and resilient in the face offuture crises.

The purpose of this white paper is to helpyou future-proof your destination — city orregion. We asked leading consultants,managers and researchers to share theirsuggestions on how to resume tourismafter the pandemic, taking intoconsideration the challenges and pitfallswhich destination managers andmarketers will face.

In a nutshell, destination branding andtourism marketing need to be seriousabout the challenges places will face inopening up again. We need to beaccurate, measured, realistic and honestin our assessments of what is safe to doand to offer. And we need to communicatethese requirements proactively.

This is the moment where success willdepend on courage, and the power ofimagination of a ‘different’ destination —one with greater local participation, and asmaller ecological footprint.

Have a clear idea of the ‘why’. What doyou (your community) want from thevisitor economy? Answer this question asdetailed as possible — looking beyondoutworn (and often untested) assumptionsof job creation and income for the hostcommunity. The first step to lastingrecovery is to figure out what a communityreally needs and wants (and what it doesnot want), from the visitor economy. Oncethe 'why' is clear, you'll find the 'how' and'what' much easier to write down andimplement.

I hope you find this white paper useful andinspiring! If you have feedback,suggestions or ideas (also for topics weshould address in future white papers) -I'd love to hear from you.

With thanks to our expert panel at ThePlace Brand Observer, for sharing theirthoughts on this important topic. You'll findthe panel's answers to many other "hot"topis on PlaceBrandObserver.com.

Happy reading!

Florian Florian Kaefer, Ph.D.editor@placebrandobserver.com

Foreword

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Communicate well internally.

Make sure businesses and locals areheard, involved and on board - in yourresponse to the pandemic and in yourdestination sustainability initiatives.

Promote slow travel.

This can help the local economy torecover, while reducing the risk ofspreading infection.

Make your destination feel clean andsafe.

Hygiene is on everyone’s mind, whichmeans that as a destination manager youshould pay utmost attention to cleanlinessand physical distancing norms.

Assume responsibility.

Though tourists have their own reasonsand liberty to travel, at the end of the dayit is your responsibility as destinationmanager to take care of checks andcontrols, together with the authorities.

Ask: why tourism?

Now is a good time for a new tourismvision, one which prioritises residentneeds and concerns, ensuresopportunities for local people, andprotects the resources and biodiversitywhich communities depend on. Take astep back and be honest about what wentwrong in previous years - includingovercrowding - and how we can do itbetter in the future.

Key Takeaways

Focus on sustainability.

Define the sustainability agenda of yourdestination with respect to its uniquefeatures. A triple bottom line approachwith a focus on people, planet and profitshould be the driving force behind alltourism recovery measures. The UNSustainable Development Goals provide agood starting point for aligning youractivities and strategy with sustainability.

Keep an eye on the long-term.

As tempting as it is to try and drive visitornumbers up in the short term, a steady,responsible and sustainable recoveryrequires time. Especially to ensure thatthe mistakes of overtourism from pre-COVID days aren’t repeated.

Reward and celebrate the rightachievements.

Implement performance indicators thatfocus on high value tourism andsustainable destination development,rather than volume attracted throughprice-competition.

Community first, visitors second.

Your destination’s community (locals) andtheir interests should be central to anyadjustment of your tourism strategy. Fortoo long, destinations - particularly at thenational level - have played a numbersgame and chased visitors withoutconsidering the impact on the hostcommunity, their culture, and theenvironment. Therein lay the seeds of'overtourism' resentments.

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Amplify what a place stands for, itsDNA.

But also seize this as an opportunity toreposition or pivot, and look to change thenarrative to what better suits local needs.Create meaningful differentiation, which inturn can drive price premiumisation.

Use this pause to ensure youunderstand local culture and ambition.

Who are you, as a destination, what doyou want, and where are you goingtogether? Before you understand that, it’sdifficult to tie any tactical plan to‘sustainability’. So first, try to do onehundred, hour-long interviews with amixture of tourism operators and regularcitizens, a random sample, asking them aseries of tough questions: Who are you atyour best? What do you leave behind?What do you turn out? Then distill theresults of those interviews into a culturalexpression, a story in plain language.Then, work with partners to put together afive-year plan, based on what you havelearned, to unify efforts.

Focus on rebuilding local confidence.

The people most invested in the long-termsustainability of a place — economic,social, and environmental — are locals.Visible and creative collaborationsinvolving residents, businesses, andcommunity groups reinforce thecommunity’s capacity to adapt and beresilient.

"Harness communitypride, willingness tocontribute, and we’re-all-in-this-together spirit withfun, new traditions andsocially-distanced culturalhappenings. Help localsrediscover their placewith local ‘insider’ tips."

I Sense of Place

Jeannette Hanna, Canada

Prioritise and promote local produce.

Linking food and drink to the destination,encouraging the use and promotion oflocal consumables; having local peoplework in hospitality and tourism, trainingand developing them well is of muchgreater benefit to the local economy andoffers more authenticity for the touristexperience, than being served by foreignstaff flown in for the tourism season.Strengthen the products and experiencesrelated to identity, so that it makesyou different as a destination.

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Start with domestic visitors.

Domestic tourism is booming this yearand that's a good thing - both forcontaining the pandemic and for tourismsustainability. Visitors from your owncountry or region will be aware about thenew rules in place. But make sure yourdestination community is recovered andready to welcome visitors from otherareas of your country or region.

Accurately define and identify yourideal target audiences.

Soon enough, international travel willresume and you'll want to make sure toattract the right kind of visitor. Find outabout their preferences, their desiredactivities and how they behave. In thecontext of COVID-19, try to understandand respond to their fears about the safetyof your destination. Make sure yourtargeted audiences are a good fit for yourdestination's sustainable developmentstrategy.

II Review Your Audiences

Encourage local communityparticipation.

A tourism destination can be holisticallysustainable only if the residents who livein that location are actively involved intourism’s spinoff economic activities, andwhen they benefit from such participation.Consider them as your most importantaudience, your team and sparring partner.

Limit the offer of short-term rentals.

As you rethink the concept of 'destinationand your role in it, look for a morebalanced offer between spaces forresidents and places catering to tourists,for instance. In the case of cities, involveuniversities in the place branding strategyto attract international students,researchers and entrepreneurs: visitorswho might become long-term residents.

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Restrict access to your destination forlarge-volume operators and short-timetourism.

Limit or ban tourism flow from cruiseliners, tour operators, low-cost carriersand subsidise fine-grained targeting. To alarge extent the economic benefits fromthose channels are in no proportion to theharm - including crowdedness - theybring. Instead, encourage tourists to travelon the ground with trains. Destinationsshould focus on slow travel, keeping eachtourist longer within the region and hencegetting more value out of each customerthan before. At the same time, thatbehaviour minimises the risk of contagionand impact on the environment.

Inspire creative collaborations.

Inspire people to reimagine oldconventions and think outside the box.Foster new kinds of collaborations andexperimentation with culinary, retail, arts,and cultural offerings. Take advantage ofthe fact that people are primed to explorenew approaches. Positive newexperiences are also valuable to helpcounter the sense of loss that many feelright now.

"I would strongly suggestfocusing on sharing thedestination's brand storyand strengthening itscommitment tosustainability and theneed for visitors to adopta respectful approach - be‘temporary citizens’ whenvisiting the destination."

III Product and Distribution Strategy

Juan Carlos Belloso,Spain

Diversify the range of your offering.

Many visitors right now want to stay awayfrom busy, centrally-located popular spots.Meet those needs by creating off thebeaten path experiences, in new places.

Think about targeting specific nicheswhere fewer tourists could bring in thesame if not more revenue to thedestination. For instance, develop‘community’ tourism by areas of interestssuch as the tourists’ profession (artists,architects), hobbies (jewelry making,food). Promote ‘geographical’ tourism inthe open-air — every place has nice spotswhich are not always obvious, and visitorswill welcome the opportunity to explorethem.

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Plan a gradual, safe, opening-up aslockdown restrictions are eased.

Destinations now require safe healthmanagement: temperature checks forvisitors, proof of immunity certificates,one-way systems for visiting places, andhand sanitiser stations. Estimate what thenew levels of capacity will be if socialdistancing and other forms of safegathering are being continued. Be realisticabout safe access to the destination bypublic transport — rail and air in particular,and the limitations those services will beoperating under, for some time. Organisethe offer of the place to respond toguidelines from the WHO and WTO onsecuring and maintaining the safety ofplaces that are tourist destinations.

Accommodate the concerns of touristsand workers in tourism about the safety ofthe places they want to visit or work in.

Adapt tourism facilities to the newreality.

Destinations will have an opportunity totransfer some of the capacity developedfor tourism and channel it to localcommunities, organisations, andcompanies.

At the same time it is important to balancethe housing that is available to the localpeople, versus housing available to thetourists. Some infrastructures could beopen exclusively for residents duringcertain times.

"Establishing theperception of superiorcleanliness would be atthe top of my priorities.Before COVID-19, thatwas a point of parity — aprimary value that thetravellers expected to bein place for anydestination that theyconsidered. Goingforward, it will be a pointof differentiation for awhile."

IV Safe and Clean: Infrastructure

Günter Soydanbay,Canada

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Motivate tourism businesses andinvest in the education of their staff.

Support safe place management for theirtourism offers, instituting credible andeffective workplace managementprocedures, investing in their people toensure they have the skills required todeliver their safe place offer.

Provide temporary business support.

Facilitate interest-free loans, extendedrepayment periods, and partialunemployment compensation for workers,in order to compensate potential negativeeffects associated with the transformationtowards a healthy and resilientdestination, and the need for businessesto adapt to such new scenarios.

Link public financial support tosustainability.

It is very clear that the tourism industry isone of the hardest-hit economic sectorsby the pandemic. It is also unquestionablethat the industry needs financial supportand government assistance in securing it.These transfers should though not comefree from obligations. Companies andplaces receiving public money should beforced to invest in their sustainability, sothey are stronger and more resilient whenthe next crisis hits.

Regulate.

Rules and regulations are necessary tohelp strike a balance between the needsand wants of communities, businessesand the natural environment. Seize themoment to set up destination access feesand (already widely practiced) tourism tax.But offer something in return: makemuseums, monuments, public transportand other public attractions andammenities free of charge for visitors.

“There is an opportunityin labellingaccommodations andattractions based on theirecological footprint andtheir local economicfootprint. If the systembehind such labelling issecure enough, theapplication of the systemmight be required by law.In some places, the levelof tourism tax could evenbe differentiated based onthe label category.”

V Financial Support & Regulations

Martin Boisen,Netherlands

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Promote your destination responsibly.

Create promotional guidelines for yourstakeholders and all those who aremarketing and selling trips within and toyour destination. To avoid overcrowding,you may even consider to make locationsless 'Instagrammable'.

Establish sustainability labeling andcertification.

Create an awards scheme to recognisetourism businesses’ contribution to safedestination management andsustainability. In your communications,highlight the stakeholders and operatorsthat are doing an exceptional job in qualityand environmental controls, as those arethe ones that have a positive impact onyour destination. Also provide them withmarketing tools to specifically targetsustainability-conscious travellers.

Infuse branding content withsustainability emphasis.

All the content that is created for brandcommunication must be consistent with,and indirectly help communicate, the keyideas of sustainability attached to yourdestination, so as to guide all follow-upactions and to encourage responsibletravel behavior.

“Offer and promote waysto habituate sustainableliving within the place.Communicate theimportance ofsustainability in yourpromotional materials andcontent, so that thevisitors are aware andchoose accordingly.”

VI Communication Strategy

Natasha Grand, UK

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Be very clear in communications withtourists about the changedcircumstances.

For instance, opening does notimmediately mean a return to full capacity;not all of you may be able to get here orbe allowed in, and we have a duty of carefor your safety and the safety of our staff.Communicate what may or will change forvisitors, potentially including bookingtimed entry in advance, fewer tables forsitting in cafes, pubs, and restaurants,temperature scanners at entry points forpublic transport, proof of negativecoronavirus tests undertaken andconfirmed 3 days prior to flight departures.

Develop a communication and pricingstrategy.

Target the travellers for whomsustainability is an important choicecriterion and to promote and stimulatesustainable behaviour within the existingcustomer base.

Listen to your local community first.

If destination communities do not wanttourists at all, then destination managersshould think very carefully about whetheror not they should persuade thesecommunities to welcome them again.Places should, primarily, serve the peoplewho live and work in them. Just bychanging the word to 'visitors', the attitudestarts to shift. The main challenge hasbeen mass tourism in all its variations —along with the associated race to thebottom, in terms of price.

Be honest about what has worked andnot worked in the past and use thismoment to reset, to ask hardquestions, and to build a better planwith your community.

Take this time to listen and understand. Itwill take enormous courage to say no fromtime to time, if your community says no.Share with the locals a clear strategy forresumption, seeking common goals, andexplaining the importance of tourism tothe local economy. If we have seen recentcases of tourismophobia in the pre-COVIDworld, now with the threat of new waves ofinfection, the gathering of people has aneven more negative impact, notably onhealth.

“Organize programs,processes and activitiesthat are capable ofinvolving a large part ofthe local community,making the tourismincome impact the largestnumber of peoplepossible.”

VII Open Dialogue with Local Community

Caio Esteves, Brazil

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Shift focus from the tourist to thelocals.

Try to increase their levels of empathytowards foreign visitors. The border walls— both literal and figurative — will mostlikely get higher, making xenophobia anastier problem. Things will probably takea turn for the worse over the next decadebefore getting better.

Highlight the value of your destination.

Portray it as something unique and worthprotecting, for instance by means ofpromoting it as a boutique experience withhigher rates, or higher entrance barriers.

Be a visionary.

Destination marketers and managers arethe ones who are pressured to help theeconomy to recover quickly, especially intourism-dependent destinations. Asprevious times have shown, a purelyeconomy-oriented tourism approach is notthe solution. It is time for you toacknowledge the limitations of the 20thcentury tourism business and to envisiona new, more sustainable model, which isalso better for the economy to recover andto strengthen its resilience.

Start with destination management andbrand strategy – not with destinationmarketing.

Destinations need to decide what kind oftourism they want first, then plan and buildit, in terms of the infrastructure and visitorexperiences put in place, or permitsgranted. Only then can innovativebranding and marketing attract the righttourists and influence visitor behaviour.

Stay connected.

It’s important to understand the currentpsychological climate. Be open to, andinvite input from the community: whatdoes success in this phase look like toyou? When people are feeling insecure,they often jump to conclusions that areunfounded. Know the facts and use themto counter knee-jerk reactions. Providegoals and context for decisions – here’swhere we are and here’s where we’rehoping to go next.

“Do your research. Youneed to understand howthe behaviour of yourprevious target groupshas changed to be able toaccommodate that, aswell as search for newopportunities and targetgroups created by thatbehavioural change.”

VIII Be a Visionary

Hjörtur Smárason,Denmark

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Avoid the pressure to move back to'business as usual, as fast aspossible'.

The saying "never waste a good crisis"implies that one should use themomentum of a crisis recovery to instigatethe changes that seemed impossiblebefore the pandemic. This obviouslydiffers from place to place, but the task isshared: start now to future-proof yourcommunity and businesses.

Look at other measures of success.

Tie tourism to other elements of placebranding - like trade, investment, andworkforce attraction, student attractionand, most importantly, communityambition. That gives you a more powerfullens than simply trying to go back to theway it was.

Be demanding: It’s no longer just anumbers game.

Will the type of tourism you aim to developcontribute to the destination’s wellbeingand long-term sustainability? If it won’t,revisit your marketing strategy and makesure it matches and supports the newrequirements for achieving yoursustainable development goals.

“There is always a lot ofpressure on destinationmarketers. Their successand failure are nearlyalways determined bynumbers. If that continuesto be the most importantaspect of the job of adestination marketer,there’s no chance forsustainability.”

IX New Measurements of Success

Todd Babiak, Australia

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Again, don't rush.

Be measured, don't pretend things areback to the previous normal. Share in anhonest way what is new and what haschanged. The ‘new normal’ is here, and itmight mean limited accessibility to someof the most popular destinations andexperiences.

Avoid low quality — support thecommunity.

It might seem like a good solution totourism businesses to reduce expensesby working with suppliers who offer lowerquality products (especially non-local) atlower prices. But in the long run, this isgoing to damage your destination'sbusinesses and its reputation. As adestination manager or marketer, dowhatever you can to encouragecollaboration across the region,supporting the local produce andexperiences which are, after all, often thereason why visitors are attracted in thefirst place.

X Avoid Common Pitfalls

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Avoid chasing discount visitation.

Promoting low-cost stays will have longterm negative impacts on the value andeconomic viability of a destination. In thelow-cost scenario, if you are successful,tourists will contribute (even) less to thelocal economy. If you're not successful, it'llbe difficult to adjust the strategy.Promotions and price cuts are easy toimplement, generate an immediateresponse, and are therefore verytempting, But in the end, everyone loses.

In the current scenario, price is only amajor determinant for a minority of touristswhen considering where to visit next;health and the perceived safety of thedestination are much more important.

Avoid being a slave to volume.

It’s hard, because politicians, whosegovernments at both national and locallevels are often major funders ofdestination marketing, are addicted topositive media coverage linked toapparent popularity of their place. And,unfortunately, visitor numbers make formore comprehensible soundbites thanvisitor expenditure.

Further Reading

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Destination branding is all about how to develop, manage, and communicate a destination'sidentity and its reputation — and PlaceBrandObserver.com is full of useful insights, strategyadvice and inspiration to help you get it done. Below just a few resources and readingsuggestions for you.

No time to browse through our knowledge library yourself? The TPBO team is happy to helpyou as an Information Scout. You ask questions, we find answers. Please contact us fordetails.

How-to guides and tutorials

Explore our collection of how-to guides for place branding professionals: gain useful insights,tips and advice for reputation management, brand development and branding strategy of yourcity, region, nation, country or destination.

https://placebrandobserver.com/place-branding-tutorials/

Place branding examples

Developing a place brand strategy which lasts, is accepted by internal stakeholders andsuccessful in attracting talent, visitors or investors is no easy task. A good way to start is tostudy place branding initiatives and strategies which have worked well elsewhere, many ofwhich you find in our collection of place branding case studies and examples.

https://placebrandobserver.com/place-branding-examples/

Expert advice

Experienced place brand professionals – researchers and practitioners – come together inour panel every couple of months to answer questions linked to the development andmanagement of place brands, including cities, neighborhoods, regions, nations anddestinations.

https://placebrandobserver.com/panel/

Recommended books

Explore our recommendations of books for professionals interested in place branding(including city branding, destination branding, country branding, nation branding), publicdiplomacy, place marketing, economic development and other, related topics.

https://placebrandobserver.com/recommended-books-place-branding/

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Günter Soydanbay

Günter is a brand strate-gist with significant expe-rience working with places around the world. Holding a B.Sc. in Psychology, his thinking aboutdestinations is heavily influenced by theunconscious mind. Consequently, he treatsplaces as stories. His proprietary narrative-based brand strategy approach drawsparallels between branding and mythology,dreams and stories.

More about Soydanbay Consulting

Book Günter as speaker

Heather Skinner

Heather is a Senior Fellow of the Institute of Place Management (IPM), a widely published author on place marketing andbranding matters, and an Associate Editorof the Journal of Place Management andDevelopment. She is a founding chair ofthe Corfu Symposium on Managing andMarketing Places (2014-2019), Chair of theIPM’s Visiting Places Special InterestGroup, and Co-Chair of the Academy ofMarketing’s Place Marketing and BrandingSpecial Interest Group.

Heather's researcher profile

Andrew Hoyne

Andrew is the Principal of Australia's leading place brand and property mar-keting agency Hoyne. Over the last decade Hoyne have evolved to a corefocus on place and property, and todaythey work with major international assetowners, developers and local councils tocreate recognisable landmarks anddestinations; from residential towers andmasterplanned communities to commercialdevelopments, new mixed-use precincts,and even cities.

More about Hoyne Book Andrew as speaker

Caio Esteves

Caio is the founder and CEO at Places for Us, aBrazilian place branding and placemaking consultancy. Pioneer of placebranding in Brazil, he understands it as theart and practice of strengthening the identiyof places and the resilience of citiesthrough the identification of vocations, andcommunity engagement. Author of thebook “Place Branding”, released in 2016.

More about Places for Us

Featured Contributors

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The following place brand researchers, advisors and managers have contributed their viewsto this white paper on how destinations can resume tourism after the pandemic, whileensuring sustainability.

(In alphabetical order – highlighted specialists are available for consulting, research, or as speakers).

Featured Contributors

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Hjörtur Smárason

Hjörtur is a place branding expert focusing on story-telling, crisis management and local economic development. He hasworked with governments and destinationsall around the world, including Iceland afterthe economic collapse of 2008 and thevolcanic eruption of 2010, Nepal after theearthquakes of 2015 and more recentlycountries in Africa and Middle East,following political and economic instability.

Book Hjörtur as speaker

João Freire

João is a Professor and researcher in Lisbon, Portugal. His background in economics initially led him to work in thefields of finance and marketing formultinational companies in Brazil, Portugaland the United Kingdom. He has co-founded various companies and is anexpert in the marketing and branding ofconsumer goods and places.

João's researcher profile

Jeannette Hanna

Jeannette is Chief Strategist at the Toronto-based brand agency, Trajectory. Writer, lecturer and podcast host. Jeannette’s place brand work includesaward-winning strategies for regions, citiesand districts across North America.

More about Trajectory

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Juan Carlos Belloso

Juan Carlos is an expert on the positioning, development and promotion of places and destinations, based in Barcelona. He helps placesbecome more attractive, through strategicadvice and innovative methodologies andtools.

Book Juan Carlos as speaker

Martin Boisen

Martin is the owner of For the Love of Place and a founding Board Memberof The International Place BrandingAssociation. He is a geographer whospecializes in the marketing and brandingof cities and regions as part of urban andregional governance and planning. Basedin The Netherlands, Martin has beeninvolved in over 100 advisory projects.

More about For the Love of Place

Martin's researcher profile

Malcolm Allan

Malcolm is the President of Bloom Consulting, which he joined in 2018 when it was merged with Placematters. He hasqualifications in town planning, civic designand development economics, has workedacross the world for both central and localgovernments.

More about Bloom Consulting

Sebastian Zenker

Sebastian is a Professor for Place Branding and Tourism at the Copenhagen Business School (Denmark). He achieved his doctoral degree at theUniversity of Hamburg (Germany) andgained further international experience asvisiting scholar at the Erasmus UniversityRotterdam (Netherlands). In his currentresearch, he concentrates on place brandmanagement.

Sebastian's researcher profile

Todd Babiak

Todd has worked as a place branding consultant and practitioner since 2011, when he happened upon the discipline byaccident. He found place-branding infinitelymore meaningful than product or corporatebranding, and far more difficult. Todd iscurrently the CEO of Brand Tasmania inAustralia.

Book Todd as speaker

Tom Buncle

Tom is Managing Director of Yellow Railroad Ltd., an international destination consultancy, which helps destinationsimprove their competitiveness throughbranding, marketing, destinationmanagement planning, and crisis recovery.

More about Yellow Railroad

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Natasha Grand

Natasha took on place branding after studying modern national ideologies at LSE following a natural fascination with the power of that the senseof home and belonging holds over us. Sheco- founded the Institute for Identity inLondon in 2009 and has worked in regionsand cities with a total population of over 20million people since.

Book Natasha as speaker

Robert Govers

Robert is an international advisor, scholar, speaker and author on the reputation of cities, regions and countries. He is theauthor of the highly acclaimed book,Imaginative Communities, chairman of theInternational Place Branding Association,co-editor of the quarterly journal of PlaceBranding and Public Diplomacy and acontributor to Apolitical, the WorldEconomic Forum Agenda and theEconomist Intelligence Unit Perspectivesplatforms.

More about Robert's consulting

Robert's researcher profile

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Featured Contributors

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Contributors

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Andrea Lucarelli

Andrea is an Associate Professor atStockholm Business School, StockholmUniversity. His primary research interest isconnected to the political dimension ofbranding places as cities and regions, aswell as other public-private sector entitiesand sport sectors. He mainly adoptsqualitative methodologies, using a vastarray of socio-cultural and politicalapproaches to analyze the socio-economicimpact of branding.

Bill Geist

Bill is the author of “DestinationLeadership” and a 25-year consultant toDestination Marketing Organizations,working with over 200 communities since1995. He is the host of the DMO industrypodcast, DMOU (Destination MarketingOrganization University) on which heinterviews the best and the brightest intourism marketing and management. Bill isthe former CEO of Destination Madison(WI) and currently serves on the Board ofthe Destinations International Foundation.

Buck Song Koh

Buck Song (Rick) is a Singaporean brandadvisor and author and editor of more than30 books, including Brand Singapore(second edition, 2017, with a Chineseedition in China). He has consulted onvarious aspects of Singapore’s countrybrand, and served on the MarketingAdvisory Panel of the current “PassionMade Possible” brand. He is also AdjunctEditor at Singapore’s Centre for LiveableCities, where he has authored reports ofthe World Cities Summit.

Cecilia Cassinger

Cecilia is Associate Professor at theDepartment of Strategic Communication,Lund University, Sweden. She currentlyconducts research on city brandingconnected to United Nations SustainableDevelopment Goal 11 on urbansustainability. Her research ismultidisciplinary and concerns thecommunicative aspects of place branding,particularly in relation to achieving sociallysustainable urban environments in theNordic context.

Contributors

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Eduardo Oliveira

Eduardo studies place branding and spatialplanning processes, and the embedding ofboth in governance. His current researchfocuses on analyzing the effectiveness ofplace branding as a strategic spatialplanning instrument in supporting the socialand economic development of urbanregions, whilst assessing its effect onenvironmental sustainability.

Hila Oren

Hila is the CEO of the Tel Aviv Foundation- a driver of progress, elevating the city’squality of life through education, the arts,sports, social services, the environment,and innovative urban projects. Previously,Hila founded and served as CEO of TelAviv Global - an initiative started by theMayor's Office in 2010.

Inga Hlín Pálsdóttir

Inga has been an integral part of thebranding and promotion of Iceland for overa decade and has been involved with allaspects of the tourism industry. She ledsuccessful changes for the brand as aplace and destination, both in crisis and intimes of growth. She was the Director forVisit Iceland and Creative Industries atPromote Iceland until the end of 2019.

Irina Shafranskaya

Irina is an Associate Professor at theNational Research University’s HigherSchool of Economics, in Russia. Her coreresearch interests are place branding andresidents' happiness, with a focus on theRussian context.

Jaume Marín

Jaume is a tourism and destinationmarketing expert and passionate aboutinnovation and value creation throughmemorable experiences. He is a lecturer atthe Faculty of Tourism of the University ofGirona in Northern Catalonia (Spain) and atthe CETT University in Barcelona.International speaker. Previously MarketingDirector of the Costa Brava Girona TouristBoard, PGA Golf Catalunya and EmpordàGolf Resort.

Jordi de San Eugenio Vela

Jordi is Associate Professor of PlaceBranding at the University of Vic-CentralUniversity of Catalonia (Spain). From 2013to 2014 he was the Vice-Dean of theFaculty of Business and Communication.From 2011 to 2013 he was the Head of theCommunication Department. He receivedhis PhD (with honours) in place brandingfrom Pompeu Fabra University inBarcelona.

Contributors

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José Pablo Arango Calle

José Pablo is the former director of BrandColombia. He specializes in marketing andreputation, with over 40 years ofexperience in advertising agencies,including Young & Rubicam, J.WalterThompson and Sancho BBDO, where hehas had the opportunity to work for most ofthe most important brands in Colombia.

Marta Hereźniak

Marta is Assistant Professor at theUniversity of Lodz, Poland. She is theauthor of the first book about nationbranding in Poland. In 2003-2010 sheserved as expert to the Polish Chamber ofCommerce and the Institute of PolishBrand. Consultant in brand-related projectsfor companies, public institutions (Ministryof Foreign Affairs, Ministry of RegionalDevelopment etc.) and local governments.

Sonya Hanna

Much of Sonya's research at BangorUniversity in Wales, Great Britain, isfocused on the theory and application ofplace branding, and more specifically inrelation to the process of ‘strategic’ placebrand management and its variouscomponents (ranging from brandcommunications to the co- creation of placebrands and stakeholder engagement) andthe inter-play between such components.

Stella Kladou

Stella works as an Assistant Professor atthe Department of Tourism Administrationat Βοğaziçi University in Turkey, havingpreviously been a Senior Lecturer atSheffield Hallam University in the UK. Sheholds a PhD in Tourism Marketing fromHellenic Open University, in collaborationwith Istanbul Bilgi University and theUniversity of Rome La Sapienza.

TPBO Publisher & EditorFlorian Kaefer, PhD

Associate Editor (White Paper) Tanya Makarova

Research and Editorial AssociatesSupriya A N & Dillon Sawyer

PlaceBrandObserver.com